Indian IT Firm Infosys Blame H-1B Visa Denials for High Employee AttritionTop Stories

Indian Informational Technology (IT) consulting company has cited the denial of H-1B visas by the United States for the growing rate of employee attrition.

In the fourth quarter, the company has recorded attrition or the employee outgoing rate at 18 percent, which is an all-time high in the company's history.

The attrition rate in Q4 last year was 16.6 percent, whereas, it was recorded at 17.8 percent in the third quarter of the last fiscal.

Reports on Sunday quoted top Infosys officials as saying that they are coming up with "new value proposition" to retain employees.

The H-1B visa, mostly sought by Indians, allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. However, the tightening of working visa norms by the Donald Trump administration, post-2017, has severely slashed the number of incoming talents from India.

According to the data compiled by Centre of Immigration Studies, five Indian software companies - Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and, HCL Tech - have been worst affected by the new H-1B visa norms.

Infosys faced the most visa rejections, 2,042, where the aforementioned companies combined received only 16 percent or 2,145 out of the total H-1B visa permits issued in 2018.

Among the outgoing Infosys workforce, said the company's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) UB Pravin Rao, the maximum are in the three-five year experience bracket in India and two-three year experience bracket based in the United States.